Friend
by LILMISSS
Summary: A young girl reminds a particularly empty Asakura Hao about his past, and the one person who can fill that empty void in his heart. Hao-centric, no pairings. Just something about Hao and his wife in his second life.


Asakura Hao wasn't in a mood for a lot of things lately.

Sure, he was Shaman King and he already promised his brother and his pesky warriors (or monkeys) that he wasn't going to purge the Earth of humans. Sure, he had his mum chiding him every once in a while to go clean his vast palace back on Earth, inherited by his former self more than 500 years ago. Sure, he found more friends in the various cats that followed him, meowing for food and company and more food.

But recently, he felt a dull ache in his metaphorical heart. Yeah, he didn't really need his heart; he could leave and enter the human world as and when he liked it. But his heart was still there, beating and pumping blood that coursed through his veins. And it was hurt.

Why? He wasn't really sure.

And as his thoughts drifted to the wife he married and the son he bore, he realized why, yet again.

No, he thought, shaking his head. That was more than 500 years ago. Surely he would've forgotten, and gotten over, the endearment and attraction he had felt for a certain young lady, who would have no doubt passed away and raised her- no, _their _son, into a bright young man to carry on the blood of the Patch tribe, finally materializing into Silva and his young daughter.

"Excuse me!" a young girl's voice rang, and Hao turned with a slight scowl.

"_What_?" Hao asked impatiently.

She pointed to the ice cream in his hand. "It's melting."

Hao looked at the ice cream in his hand, and it was indeed melting. The chocolate was dribbling down the side of the cone, and he sulkily licked at it, mildly put off that the little girl embarrassed him, even though she was _just a little girl_.

He concentrated on his ice cream, but still felt the little girl's presence next to him. It irritated him to no end, and in twenty seconds or so, he whipped around to face her. Despite his age (physically 17) and size, the girl didn't appear daunted at all at his deep frown. In fact, she raised her head higher and stood up straighter to face him. "Just _what _exactly do you want?"

The girl looked at her shoes, and Hao noticed her bright pink shoes. "I don't know," she said slowly, looking equally confused, probably at her own thoughts.

And then Hao noticed something else – he couldn't hear her thoughts. Not a peep. All he heard was the murmurs of voices in the distance, presumably from the park nearby.

"I just find…" she started, and Hao snapped back to her, "…I just find you familiar. Do you know who my mummy is?"

The more she fidgeted and looked at him, the more intrigued Hao was. "I don't remember seeing you."

But once she mentioned it, Hao didn't understand how he could've missed such a strong, familiar vibe emanating out of her. He noticed her scratching at a scab on her leg and suddenly a rush of some form of paternal instinct kicked in. "Don't scratch that."

"Right. Okay. Can I sit?" she asked, pointing at the empty spot beside Hao on the park bench. The boy gave a small nod and she scrambled up the chair.

There was silence once again, and it wasn't just the physical surroundings. It was either his reishi was malfunctioning (something that never occurred), or this girl was just…_special_.

"What's your name?" she asked him, as she swung her backpack to rest on her lap.

"Hao," he replied slowly. "And yours?"

"Sorry, my mummy told me that I can't talk to strangers. But since you're familiar and you seem nice enough, I'll talk to you, but I won't tell you my name, okay?" She seemed satisfied at her mature answer, and then she added hastily, "But I'm not taking your sweets."

Hao smirked. "Not even ice cream?"

"…Y- I mean, NO! Not a single drop of it!" she announced triumphantly, pleased with herself.

"Okay, then." Hao took a lick of it, ignoring her lecherous gaze. After two more licks, he turned to her. "Do you want some ice cream?"

"Yes- I mean, not yours! I don't have money for it." And with that, she frowned.

Hao rolled his eyes. He rummaged in his pocket for spare change, and then checked his ratty wallet. Finally, he gathered enough coins for a cone, and handed it to her. "Go buy that ice cream."

"B-But I can't take your money!" the girl cried out in disbelief. "It's stealing! I'll be _jailed_!"

And then her voice dropped to a low whisper. "_But was that ice cream nice?"_

Hao faked an inspection of his ice cream, and then nodded exaggeratingly. "I'd rate it a 4/5."

He was lying. He didn't even like vanilla. The vendor thought he was exceedingly handsome so Hao decided to buy an ice cream. The only drawback was that she only offered one flavor, so he had to reluctantly go with vanilla.

"Alright!" she squealed, snatching the money away from him. Her small fingers brushed his fingertips, causing him to jump at the jolt he received, as she took the coins and ran off to the vendor.

Suddenly, flashbacks ran through his mind. The young girl, who bravely took Asakura Hao's arm and walked through the fields as everyone called her to stay away from the oddball of a boy who didn't look at all like his parents, with striking brown hair. The teenage girl who was the first person who knew of Hao's past, but instead of running away, kept on asking meaningless questions that Hao found amusing to answer. She was the young, bright woman who already knew what was in store for her as they grew up together. She was the one who nodded once when Hao asked for her hand in marriage, and nodded once when he left her with the Spirit of Fire, never to return to her.

He had so many doubts; his second life was like long-term puberty as he struggled with his ultimate aim and his affection, or was it love? The day he abandoned her, and that little bundle of cloth and flesh, was the day he felt crushed. It was the day he had to fight off his emotions, and escape from the Patch tribe.

"I'm back- HAO!" the little girl shook his knee angrily. "Don't zonk out on me now! I just got my ice cream and you have to talk to me!"

Hao looked at her and inwardly smacked himself for not noticing the fine details of her cherubic face – the gleam in her eyes that was so reminiscent of his wife, the flush of her cheeks. "Sorry," he apologized, sighing, "but you remind me of someone."

The girl beamed at him brightly. "So I _do _know you!" she exclaimed, "or at least, we're related in _some _way!"

"Perhaps you are," was Hao's bemused reply. He was not only amused at the girl's enthusiasm, but he was also amused by his closing throat, too overwhelmed with emotions. It was something unfamiliar, and he found it curious that of all people, a young girl who snatched money out of a stranger's hands would make him feel that way.

Or were they _really _strangers?

"So!" the girl cried out, clambering up to her seat and grabbing at his arm, "tell me! Is she pretty?"

"Who's pretty?"

"The person that I reminded you of! Is she pretty? Because if she is, I'll probably be pretty too!"

Hao looked out at the distance, his eyes half-closed at the memory. He let out a genuine smile. "She was beautiful."

The girl jumped in her seat, excited. "Oh, so is she your _special someone_?"

He grinned. "You could call her that, I suppose."

"Wow!" Her eyes shone with admiration, and then she soon stuck out her tongue. "Ew, but you're not my type!"

Hao almost laughed at this. "That was what she told me when I first met her. I didn't like her at first."

The response elicited a gasp from the girl. "You mean, you didn't like me too?"

Hao was about to put it bluntly that she annoyed him, but he stopped. She was too young. "No, not at all."

"Oh. That's good!" the girl heaved a sigh of relief. "Anyway, what else did you like about her?"

"Hm…" and Hao truly thought about it. He finally shrugged. "I don't know. I like everything about her."

The girl grinned and it looked as though she was vibrating out of sheer happiness and excitement. "Wow! That's exactly what I want love to be like! Even though I'm bad at Math and I talk a lot…will he still love me?"

"Well, if he does love you, then yes." Hao smiled at her. "After all, you don't need a reason to love someone, don't you?"

"You sound so smart…I don't get you!" the girl cried out, but instead of looking crestfallen, she was beaming so much that sunlight seemed to be radiating out of her cheeks.

"I think you'll get it when you grow up. But for now, focus on your school, okay?" Hao reminded her gently.

"Of course! Here, look at my Science paper!" she turned and rummaged through her bag, before finally pulling out a slightly crumpled piece of paper. "Well, I didn't do so bad in it, but the best paper was my Art exam!"

Hao couldn't help but wonder why would the education system bother with art examinations for young children. He took her drawing block and examined it.

"It's good, for your age," Hao remarked, thinking about back when he was truly seven or eight years old, still struggling to learn how to write and read, in the darkness of the night with Ohachiyo. "I didn't know how to draw or write when I was your age."

She looked at him earnestly. "You really think so?" she asked.

He nodded his head, and she smiled. As she set her bag down between them, explaining how she got a certain grade for a certain subject, Hao just smiled and nodded, hanging on her every word.

"And this one? It was easy! Except for this question though; I didn't know how to do it, so I just closed my eyes and picked a random answer, and I got it right!"

"Really? You must've been very lucky that day."

"Uh huh! Oh, that must've been why I was picked to be the class representative!"

"You must like your school, right?"

"Yup! I like my teacher, and my friends. Today, I made a new friend!" she chirped merrily. Hao raised his eyebrows.

"Really? A new friend in the middle of the school term?" he asked, and he didn't expect it at all when she giggled and jabbed at his chest repeatedly with her finger.

"_You're _my new friend, Hao!" she said, brimming with happiness. "You gave me free ice cream and I had a lot of fun talking to you!"

"M-Me? A-A _friend_?" Just a few weeks ago, he was a solitary figure, who didn't need friends. It had always been that way for years. And now… he suddenly gained an unexpected friend, in a human who could somehow block out her thoughts from him. He was reminded of Anna but he shook his head; she had dark brown hair and intense, large eyes that resembled nothing like Anna.

She nodded her head eagerly. "Of course! Why do you look so funny?"

Hao's eyes were misty. He gulped back tears. Why was he so emotional? She was just a girl.

_But this girl just made you her friend._

Before she could probe further, she whipped her head towards the park. "Oh look, my mummy's back!" She quickly took Hao's hand and yanked him out of his seat. "Come on, you gotta meet her!"

She pulled him towards a slender feminine figure waving at them. "Hi, mummy!" the girl greeted, hugging her mum. Then, she tugged at Hao's hand. "I met a new friend today!" she whispered sweetly to her mum.

"Oh, that's nice, dear," her mum said, and then gave Hao a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry if she was any trouble. She ran off somewhere about something and I was grocery shopping."

She turned to the little girl, who blushed. "This is a small town, so most people know each other. I'm pretty comfortable with letting her run around, actually…"

Hao took a good look at her mother. She didn't have the features that reminded him of his wife, but Hao could see traces of her; he couldn't put a finger to what it was, exactly.

"It wasn't a bother. Your daughter is a good…_friend_," Hao dismissed, smiling at the young girl, who beamed at his choice of word.

"Will you be coming tomorrow too, Hao?" she asked excitedly.

Hao thought of tomorrow's plans. He was supposed to be back in his spiritual world again, but…that could be arranged. "I guess so," he said vaguely, still smiling.

"Hao…Hao…where have I heard that name before…?" her mother mumbled to herself.

"Maybe our neighbor talked about how nice he is?" the young girl volunteered.

"…maybe. Well, we have to head home now. Thank you once again," her mother said, and Hao nodded once, before the duo walked away from him, with the young girl stealing glances and smiles at her newfound friend.

Xxx

"Hao…?" the wizened old lady asked her granddaughter in mild disbelief.

"Yes! He had long hair, brown eyes and he's handsome, too!" the girl shouted out. "If he were a little younger, I'd ask him to marry me!"

The old lady turned to her ratty old book, handed down from generation to generation. It was a diary of her ancestor, whose name she could never recall (old age was 'a bitch' as the young people would put it) and it was centred around a young man she had fallen in love with against all odds.

Asakura Hao…

She idly flipped open the book, looking for the portrait of the man in question. After a few flips, she sighed and flipped it back, only to freeze at a drawing.

Hurriedly, she flipped it forward by a few pages and opened the book wide, before holding in an inaudible gasp.

There was her ancestor, staring back at her with a sweet, gentle smile that was almost exactly like her granddaughter's.

xxx

**In the manga (or the anime, or both), Hao is said to have a wife and a child during his second life. There **_**had **_**to be a story to that, right?**

**I didn't give the OCs a name because I didn't want to. I don't know if that confuses people; the lack of names, that is.**

**R&R!**


End file.
